Default groups for user in Ubuntu?

Solution 1:

A) Short answer

Default groups; say for user123, on fresh install - (use command groups in a terminal):

user123 adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare

Gives diff from 11.04 as

admin is replaced by sudo
dialout is removed
dip is added.

To get/view defaults. Would probably work for various others too; do:

sudo grep user-setup /var/log/installer/syslog

B) Restoring default groups

(Adding this to make it more complete)

1. Identifying the groups

I always set root password, but if you haven't use a live CD, live USB, other install etc. to get to the file.

If you have set root password (by i.e.):

sudo passwd root

and have lost sudo privileges do:

su - root
grep user-setup /var/log/installer/syslog

Gives you i.e.

... user-setup: pwconv: failed to change the mode of /etc/passwd- to 0600
... user-setup: Shadow passwords are now on.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' ...
... user-setup: Adding new group `user123' (1000) ...
... user-setup: Adding new user `user123' (1000) with group `user123' ...
... user-setup: Creating home directory `/home/user123' ...
... user-setup: Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...
... user-setup: addgroup: The group `lpadmin' already exists as a system group. Exiting.
... user-setup: Adding group `sambashare' (GID 124) ...
... user-setup: Done.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' to group `adm' ...
... user-setup: Adding user user123 to group adm
... user-setup: Done.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' to group `cdrom' ...
... user-setup: Adding user user123 to group cdrom
... user-setup: Done.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' to group `dip' ...
... user-setup: Adding user user123 to group dip
... user-setup: Done.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' to group `lpadmin' ...
... user-setup: Adding user user123 to group lpadmin
... user-setup: Done.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' to group `plugdev' ...
... user-setup: Adding user user123 to group plugdev
... user-setup: Done.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' to group `sambashare' ...
... user-setup: Adding user user123 to group sambashare
... user-setup: Done.
... user-setup: adduser: The group `debian-tor' does not exist.
... user-setup: Adding user `user123' to group `sudo' ...
... user-setup: Adding user user123 to group sudo
... user-setup: Done.
... ubiquity: Removing user-setup ...
... ubiquity: Purging configuration files for user-setup ...

Or:

su - root
grep "user-setup: Adding user user123 to group" /var/log/installer/syslog | cut -d' ' -f11

Which yields:

adm
cdrom
dip
lpadmin
plugdev
sambashare
sudo

(No idea why dip suddenly has become a default group by install. Something to do with dialout being removed?)

2.a Updating groups - using "built-in" root access

So do, as root, to add groups to user, i.e. user user123:

usermod -a -G adm,cdrom,lpadmin,sudo,sambashare,dip,plugdev user123

Where (Somewhat outdated on 12.10):

adm         Monitor system logs
cdrom       Use CD-ROM drives
lpadmin     Configure printers
sudo        administer the system, ...
sambashare  Share files with the local network
dip         Connect to the Internet using a modem
plugdev     Access external storage devices

Some extras you might need: (check what you have by root@YOURPC:~# id -nG user123)

dialout     ttyS*/Serial/COM1,COM2 ...
vboxusers   Virtual Box
user123     Your own group

If you want; double-check /etc/group , i.e. (here with some extras):

root@YOURPC:~# grep user123 /etc/group

adm:x:4:user123
audio:x:29:user123,timidity,pulse
video:x:44:user123
lp:x:7:user123
dialout:x:20:user123
cdrom:x:24:user123
sudo:x:27:user123
dip:x:30:user123
plugdev:x:46:user123
lpadmin:x:107:user123
user123:x:1000:
sambashare:x:124:user123
vboxusers:x:127:user123
autologin:x:1001:user123

As an alternative one can boot in to rescue mode and

mount -o remount,rw /
usermod -G adm,cdrom,lpadmin,sudo,sambashare,dip,plugdev user123

Log out and log in. Groups should be updated.

2.b Updating groups - using root access from Live-CD etc.

xxx here is where your file-system is mounted when running a live edition, i.e. /media/foo.

Manually edit the file /xxx/etc/group using vigr and add user as in previous listing.

Or; only add user to sudo; as in:

sudo:x:27:user123

Boot into your installation and update by executing the usermod command with sudo:

sudo usermod -a -G adm,cdrom,lpadmin,sudo,sambashare,dip,plugdev user123